Royals' Tim Collins of Worcester in new territory

Sunday

Jan 27, 2013 at 6:00 AM

It didn’t take long for Mike Aviles to recognize what we’ve known about Tim Collins for quite a while. “When I played with him his rookie year, I remember seeing this little guy who’s pretty fit, but I figured there’s no way this guy throws hard,” said Aviles, who in 2011 teamed with Collins in Kansas City before he was traded to the Red Sox later that season.

By John Conceison TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It didn’t take long for Mike Aviles to recognize what we’ve known about Tim Collins for quite a while.

“When I played with him his rookie year, I remember seeing this little guy who’s pretty fit, but I figured there’s no way this guy throws hard,” said Aviles, who in 2011 teamed with Collins in Kansas City before he was traded to the Red Sox later that season. “Sure enough, he goes out there, striking guys out and getting other guys out, and I’m like, ‘Man, this guy’s pretty good.’ ”

Collins, the former Worcester Voke left-handed ace, and Aviles reunited Thursday night at the Boston baseball writers dinner, where Collins was honored with the Ben Mondor Award as the New England player of the year and Aviles was the winner of the Jackie Jensen Hustle Award.

New Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona has always had a soft spot for the smaller players who can achieve, though he won’t be rooting for the 5-foot-7, 170-pound Collins when he faces the Royals in the AL Central this season.

“You see he’s a little like the Pedroia package — what you see isn’t necessarily what you get,” said Francona, the former Sox manager who will be rejoined with Aviles in Cleveland. “There’s a lot that comes out of that arm. He gets it up pretty good.”

After two solid seasons as a Kansas City setup man, the 23-year-old Collins enters this spring training as one valuable reliever. His offseason is just about over as he heads to Royals camp in Surprise, Ariz., on Thursday, a week before the team’s early report date, then will join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic.

“It’s an awesome opportunity,” said Collins, who two years ago pitched for the U.S. in a prequalifying tournament in Puerto Rico. “You have an opportunity at some point to play on the same field as maybe one or two of those guys at a time. Now I’m playing with a whole group of them. In my eyes, they’re all All-Stars.”

All of this developed over the past couple of weeks, beginning with a text message from former Red Sox first baseman Tony Clark, now an executive board member of the MLB Players Association. “He told me that (WBC manager) Joe Torre was wondering if I’d be interested in playing,” Collins said. “I told him I was interested, but I wanted to go through the Royals first and get their thoughts and opinions and go from there.”

Kansas City gave Collins the OK, along with eight others in the organization to represent other nations in the WBC. Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino is also on the Team USA roster.

Continued progress with the Royals made Collins a person of interest for Torre. Many of Collins’ stats last year paralleled those of his rookie season (5-4, 3.36 ERA last season, 4-4, 3.63 in 2011), but he improved with his control, walking only 34 in 69-2/3 innings last year. He walked 48 in 67 innings the year before.

“I knew I had to work on my command,” said Collins, who struck out 93 last season, 12.01 per nine innings. “I had a lot of success in the minor leagues with being effectively wild. You can’t get away with that in the big leagues.

“The one thing I found my first year is if you’re not throwing strikes, they’re just going to wait, and that happened to me a lot,” he added. “I really focused on that going into that offseason, really kind of bearing down and getting back to basics and getting back into the strike zone more consistently. I’ve always had the stuff, it’s just my stuff was not as good because I wasn’t throwing strikes.”

During the offseason, Collins has lived in Marlboro, near Cressey Performance, the renowned athletic training facility in Hudson where the left-hander continues to work out.

“I feel the offseason is the time when you need to repair yourself and get yourself healthy, or if there’s anything wrong or if you need to strengthen something,” Collins said. “I’ve always prided myself in going into spring training in better shape than everybody else, or at least I try to. I can’t say enough about Cressey’s gym, they’ve helped me get to where I am right now. I’ve been injury-free, and hopefully I stay that way.”

The winter has also included shuttles to and from Virginia, where fiancée Tiffany Brooks is from, and the two have been shoring up plans for their wedding Nov. 30.

Collins is excited about the Royals’ offseason acquisitions, especially the trade with the Tampa Bay Rays to land All-Star right-hander James Shields.

“I don’t think there is one person you can ask that is not excited about the moves we’ve made,” he said. “When you get a guy like James Shields, you’re going to have to give up somebody big in order to get him. I think the move we made is going to benefit us now, hopefully more in the long run. (Outfield prospect) Wil Myers, he has the talent to become an All-Star, but you’ve got to deal guys like that in order to get a guy like Shields, who’s a winner.”

Collins’ mental toughness on the mound has helped him earn the opportunity to play for Uncle Sam in the WBC in March. He’s confident, yet realizes the awesome experience ahead.

“It’s kind of scary, and I’m not really sure what to expect,” he said. “I know we’re there to win, and I want to do everything that I can to help. I just hope I don’t mess up.”